Postcards revealing all aspects of Jewish life

A remarkable collection of around 4500 postcards relating to a wide range of aspects of Jewish life in the 19th and 20th centuries was the fascinating, and often sobering, centre of interest when offered by Norfolk auction house Horners (17% buyer’s premium).

Terence Ryle

23 Apr 2018

One of 49 postcards related to the Dreyfus affair, from a collection of 4500 postcards relating to a wide range of aspects of Jewish life in the 19th and 20th centuries sold at Norfolk auction house Horners.

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Amassed by a survivor of the Holocaust, they were offered in 35 lots at the Accle rooms on March 24. With almost every lot going well above estimate, it totalled more than £21,000.

The scenes depicted ranged from 19th century market traders in London’s Petticoat Lane to important synagogues and rabbis from around the world. But they also included darker aspects such as ghetto life and Russian and Eastern European pogroms.

Some of the better sellers – going to private bidders with a historical interest – showed anti-Semitic propaganda from Nazi Germany. A memory of French anti-Semitic injustice finally corrected was a selection of 49 cards relating to the Dreyfus Affair, one illustrated above, which was estimated at £300-400 and sold at £540.